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Teslagrad public demo released today!

Alright, sold! The Rain Games team has released the first public demo of Teslagrad today and all I can say is it’s awesome! Teslagrad is a 2D Puzzle-Platformer that revolves around the use of magnetism and electricity. That last sentence is taken directly from the Rain Games website and it aptly describes the game in a short snippet. What you don’t get from that short description is the idea that Teslagrad is also a beautifully animated, silky smooth, side-scrolling adventure with tight controls and unique puzzle mechanics.

After taking the demo for a spin I can honestly say that Teslagrad will end up being as fun and memorable as Braid, Super Meat Boy, Limbo, and Fez, to name but a few of the more recent entries from my long list of favorite platformers. I’ve played my fair share of fun and decent platformers, but Teslagrad actually has me excited. The demo took me roughly 20 minutes to complete, but I must confess that I haven’t had as much fun with a platformer such as this since my first playthru of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. Which is interesting when I think about it, since Teslagrad does feel like a Metroid-vania style game with it’s hybrid of exploration, item discovery, and boss battles.

The demo introduces players to it’s platforming and puzzle mechanics early on. Though puzzle-platformers aren’t for everyone, Teslagrad is also very much a 2D side-scrolling adventure, much like other classics such as Out of this World (Another World), Oddworld, and Heart of Darkness. I don’t know exactly how long the full game will be once it is released, but judging by the demo, Teslagrad is a rather large and interesting 2D world just waiting to be explored.

Contrary to many puzzle-platformers, with their slower paces and sometimes plodding mechanics, Teslagrad is paced more like an action adventure. There’s no need to rush, but the items you’ll find, and that are used for solving various puzzles, will also allow you to speed through many areas of the game. You’ll also die, perhaps a lot, but with no annoying load times and a decent checkpoint system you’ll find that the gameplay is both fair and fun.

Here’s a short list of Teslagrad’s features:

Complex puzzles! Put your sense of logic to the test and cleverly manipulate the world around you using electricity and magnetism, the lifeblood of the game. Puzzles will range from “pff, that wasn’t so bad” to keyboard-smashing, controller-chewing frustration.

Explore! Make your way through rich 2D hand-drawn surroundings as you journey into — and beyond— Tesla Tower, as you discover and use amazing new items.

Visual storytelling! Tired of all those words in your video games? Have no fear, Teslagrad features not a single snippet of text or squeak of dialogue. Everything is purely visual, and the entire story is told through what you see (and sometimes what you don’t see).

Steampunk powered! Discover a dystopic and mind-blowing rainy-and-brainy setting, presenting a steampunk vision of an old Europe-inspired new world.

No disruptions! That means no loading screens, no GUI, no cutscenes. Just the game and you.

In celebration of the Teslagrad public demo release, Rain Games is having a demo speedrun contest where one lucky player will win a digital copy of the game when it’s finished and a the Original Soundtrack CD of Teslagrad, signed by the Rain Games team! This contest will be on between August19th and September 19th 23:59 CEST. Be sure to read the particulars for the contest rules.

Teslagrad is slated for a full release sometime this Fall and will be available on PC, Wii U, and Playstation 3. In the meantime, you should head over to the Rain Games website where you can learn more about the game and the demo contest, then go and do yourself a favor, download the demo and discover why I’m so fond of this game even though it’s not out yet.